The present invention relates to an ozone generating apparatus for generating ozone which is used in various processes or treatments such as semiconductor production processes, deodoration of various wasted gases, industrial and medical treatments, cleaning, sterilization and or decoloration of drinking water, running water or sewage. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a ozone generating apparatus which has improved performance and which is capable of generating ozone at a large generating rate.
In recent years, there is an increasing demand for generating ozone of high concentration at a large rate, in order to meet demands from various processes and treating systems of the kind mentioned above. Eitherto, such requirement has been met by a system employing a plurality of small-capacity ozone generators which are driven by an RF high voltage power supply as shown in FIG. 16. Each such ozone generator, therefore, generates ozone of high concentration at a comparatively small rate. These small-capacity ozone generators are connected in parallel as shown in FIG. 17, so that the whole system can produce ozone of high concentration at a large rate. This system, however, is complicated in construction and, hence, requires a large cost of installation, as well as laborious protective maintenance.
Another way to meet the demand for generation of ozone at large rate is to use a single ozone generating apparatus having a large generation capacity. Such ozone generating apparatus employs an ozonizer discharge electrode having large electrostatic capacitance which essentially requires that the frequency of the driving electric power be low, with the result that the ozone generating efficiency is correspondingly reduced disadvantageously.